Rammy Gave All He Had Maybe

Mike Quade had his fishing interrupted by Daryl Van Schouen of the Sun Times, so naturally he was in a less than fantastic mood. It appears the dearth of news has hit Chicago's sportswriters like the economy has hit first-half America (we can relate, Daryl), so the Sun Times went fishing for a story and found one in Quade's perception of what Dale Sveum said in his opening presser (ZOMDR, no he DID'N!!!!1FUKUDOME!). It was a pretty benign reaction, all things considered, but it did include this quintessential Quade complimentary insult:

“I thought [Aramis] Ramirez gave a helluva effort last year. Maybe because it was contract year, I don’t know.’’

I don't really care. It's harmless. It's just nice to churn up some fake drama when nothing else is going on.

Hey, Schilling, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win someday.

Curt Schilling has his money on the Cubs. Eventually. In an interview with Waddle & Silvy on Friday (podcast stream, download), Schilling gave his endorsement of his former GM and said that Theo Epstein would lead the Cubs to the promised land in the next five to ten years, especially if that doesn't wind up being the length of Starlin Castro's prison sentence. Schilling said:

He understands the human element to this. A lot of what I learned from and about Theo I've taken into my company and tried to help my company grow. Theo gets it, and it's not lost on the people who played for him. He's the only general manager I ever played around who fit into the clubhouse. That's a very dangerous thing for general managers, especially if they don't fit. He was always welcome. He's a very smart guy.

The prediction isn't worth much, but it's interesting that for all the talk about Epstein's approach to stats, one of his former players isolated his understanding of the human element of team management as a key component of his success.

Is There a Cubs Game Today?

No.

Photo I Recently Enjoyed

h/t to Aisley

Commercial I recently hated

A lot of people went on and on about how awesome this commercial was. It made zero sense to me. What the hell is "Halftime in America" supposed to mean? Clint Eastwood, yay! America, yay! Let's unite as one, yay! Engines roaring, stirring music, if Detroit can do it so can we, yay, yay, YAYYYYY!!!!

So we're ready for the second half. We're ready for America to end. We're gonna win. Gritty voice. So many people said they felt chills. I felt so completely cold and turned off, I had to check the mirror to make sure I wasn't Ann Coulter. Aaaand /rant.